Taking up the mantle
by LoneWriter091
Summary: It was suppose to be a normal day, but a robbery throw a wrench into that. Now, i'm dead. Well, should be dead but I'm waking up to the one scene that I don't know how to feel about it. All i know now, is if I am what I think I am and if I don't man up. Innocent people are going to die and it's going to be my fault. So, taking up the mantle is all I could do. SI-fic.
1. Damn it!

Chapter 1: Damn it!

* * *

"Normal speech"

'_Thoughts_'

"**Deep voice or powerful"**

"**THU'UM!"**

"_My native tongue-This chapter only_"

* * *

_Ding!_

I heard the sound of the doorbell rang as I stop looking down my phone and pocket it to face the customer. The customer wasn't someone special, 6ft tall, black hair and brown slanted eyes. You know, us Asian. I work in a convenience store as a part time job in the summer after spending a gap year preparing for university so I put on my friendly smile.

"_Hello sir, how can I help you today?_"

My smile waned a bit when I saw that the man was just standing there humming while looking around the store with his hand in his pocket. Really, instead of asking me if the store have something that he needs, he's standing there humming. Humming!? We asians don't hums!

I was about to politely ask him again when something was jammed against my forehead. Feeling the sensation of cold metal, I slowly raised my arms up in the air with dread.

He's pointing a gun at me!

_A fucking gun!_

Here in Vietnam there's no gun control law because it's illegal to own firearms! How the fuck this man has one, I have no fucking clue!

"_Here's what we're going to do kid. You're gonna put money in this bag or I'll put a hole in your head." _As he put a leather bag on the counter.

I don't know if it was the adrenalin or I'm just freezing where I'm standing, but one thing I know for damn sure. That the gun he's holding is a Makarov and the safety is _on_! This time, it really feels like time slowed down as I bolted my hands around the shooter's own. My left hand grip the short barrel, my right hand grab onto his wrist and I pushed his arm up to my left before I pulled his arm hard.

I was lucky that this fucker doesn't know how to properly handle a firearm because when he squeezes the trigger, the handgun didn't discharge a round.

All this combined, the man was surprised and shocked so he didn't pulled his arm back when I pull. And pulled I did. Subsequently his head slams into the metal counter, I heard a crunch but I didn't care. Twisting his wrist hard inward, causing the gun's barrel to face away from me and I take away his gun, turning the safety off, pulled back the hammer and slide back the slide, a cartridge burst out. That gave me assurance as it means that either the gun's empty or it is still loaded and I can use it to secure the man and call the authorities. Gripping the gun in my left hand, I step on the chair and jumped through the counter. The man tried to tackle me but my right arm was already poised in front of me so I shoved him back.

The gun I held low in my left hand nearing my hips so I don't over-extend my arm risking him grabbing my arm while also assuring I'll have a clear shot around his torso. We have security camera here so I not afraid of being prosecuted. Putting my free hand inside my pocket, I pulled out my phone and unlocked it, _thank god it has fingerprint scan at the back, _and dialed 113. The 911 of Vietnam so to speak.

After a few beeps, I heard a voice at the other end of the line.

"_Emergency here. What is the problem?_"

"_I have a robbery here at Kiosk 83, building HH3C, Linh Dam Urban Area. The robber was armed and has been disarmed._"

I heard the line went dead. I sincerely hope that they were hauling ass or this is going to get dirty. Five to seven minutes later, I heard the familiar siren of a police car and I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. Seconds later, two police officer rushes into the store and the robber apprehending him while a third officer come near me. I immediately handed him the handgun, ejecting the clip, the chambered round and turn the safety one of course.

He asked me a few questions but I zoned out, looking at the robber. Suddenly the dude somehow overpowered the two officer and rushes to the exit with a knife drawn. Pushing the cop out of the way, I tried to dodge too but the robber was already a few steps away from us and it was too late.

I felt a sharp pain in my torso, but I ignored it and grabbed the offending arm and upper-cutted the prick. The thing is, if the knife was still in my torso I may have survived but the man had a firm grip on the knife and he yanked it out, leaving me bleeding. Another thing is that he stabbed my right side, two lethal point is there, the liver and a lung. My vision turn as suddenly I saw the floor and two pair of feet rushing towards me.

Then my vision went dark.

* * *

I didn't know how long time has pass but I know one thing for damn sure. It's fucking Freezing! Not the kind that stabs into your flesh kind but the blistering kind, the kind that peels away your skin and munch on your flesh and bones. The kind that will constrict your breathing and muscles!

Fuck!

Suddenly, my hearing return to me and the first few sound I hear is the sound of a carriage and the winds bellowing. Then I saw a man before me, wearing a very familiar blue clothed padded fur armor sitting in front of me, blonde hair and beard, clear blue eyes staring into me.

"Hey you, you're finally awake."

That damnable sentence, one I have heard all too well. And that face, that goddamn face.

The face Ralof of fucking Riverwood.

I can already reciting the whole damn scene in my head.

"You were trying to cross the border right? Walked right into that Imperial ambush. Same as us, and that thief over there."

Looking to my right. Lo and behold, Ulfic Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm and Lokir of Rorikstead. Yep, it's official, I'm in mother fuckin' Skyrim. Face palming with my bounded hands. The hands that just saved a police officer's life and muttered three words.

Three famous last words if I didn't get out of this alive.

"Goddamn it Todd."

* * *

A/N: New story! Yay! This is just a small prologue so I can see the feedback.

The one thing that I'm conflicted about right now is the use of modern firearms. There will be restrictions so I won't go all guns blazing through the whole thing. The other thing is fast usage of magic. If I don't see any objections within reason then I will go on with my original plan. Other than that, enjoy!


	2. Helgen

Chapter 2: Helgen

-oOo-

"Normal speech"

'_Thoughts_'

"**Deep voice or powerful"**

"**THU'UM!"**

-oOo-

"Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy. If they haven't been looking for you, I could have stolen that horse and been half way to Hammerfell. You there, you and me – we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

_'Shut up Lokir, nobody wants to hear you talk.'_

Half way through his rant, I was ready to shut him up when Ralof interrupted the poor sod like in the game.

"We're all brothers and sisters in binds now, thief."

Closing my eyes and reciting the whole dialogs again in my mind to distract myself from the stress. I know one thing for sure that I was really dead back home. I mean really, taking a knife stabbed hilt-deep into your liver then the aforementioned knife was yanked out. Pretty sure I was dead and then put into this position. Now, there's really no guarantee that I'm the Last Dragonborn, technically speaking there's still Miirak but that's a long way down and he's the First Dragonborn. The only way to confirm it is in Bleak Falls Barrow, which is after Helgen.

Another thing to note, what kind of fighting style would I pick up? Oh, who am I kidding? One-handed, Restoration and Alteration all the way, might pick up Sneaking and Illusion later when I have to deal with the Dark Brotherhood. And since this is real and not limited by game engine, I'm gonna grapple the hell out of these fuckers, those years spending to learn Judo and Taekwondo will be finally paying off. A bandit using shield? I'll rip it out with Telekinesis Star Wars style. Two-handed weapons? Take my gauntleted left arm to hold onto the shaft of the hammers and axes, parrying great swords then sucker punch the poor sods.

Wait.

Magic is real.

_Hehe, ha ha. Ha ha ha ha!_

Sith lightning mother fucker!

_Unlimited POWA!_

I was cut from my thought when I heard that familiar sentence.

"General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"

Damn, we just now got to the gate in Helgen? Okay then, recap then. Stall as much as possible, and pray to the divines that Alduin will be a bro and bust me out of here.

You know, I'm really calm about this. I mean, these are real people here. People with dreams, families and somehow I'm not really caring about how their fate will turn up. Oh right, they'll think me crazy and I'll get the chopping block first. Another thing is my race, how the hell am I going to explain my race, name too.

Shit, shit, shit!

Haven't thought of this yet.

I don't know if I'm still in my old body or in a new one. Okay, calm down. Let's choose quickly and safely. Mixed race? Yeah, that will guarantee if my facial features are the same or a new one. If I'm still Asian then let's go with a Mer, and human. High Elves? Yeah, slanted eyes and light yellowish tone of skin.

Imperial or Nord?

Imperial, period.

That's that.

Now, names.

Masalus Thromonin.

Huh? Okay that was fucking weird. A name suddenly popped up in my head. Oh well, don't look a gift horse in the mouth.

The carriage stops and Lokir exchange some more banter with Ralof, it's all in the script really. It could differ but I don't care about that much. We all slowly get off the carriage one at a time, I let Ralof got out before me, meaning I'm last to leave. Hey, every mili-seconds counts. When I finally got out of the carriage, I saw the Redguard captain walking next to Hadvar, the bloody skank. After both of them chatted briefly, Hadvar turns towards us.

"Step toward the block when we call your name. One at a time!"

And he then proceed to call the names of us prisoner. First was Ulfric and Ralof said something about honored to serve or something, not before lamenting about "_Empire loves their damn lists._" and went to join Ulfric near the chopping block. I snickered at that. Hey, weren't Lokir tried to run about now?

"No! I'm not a rebel! You can't do this!"

Ah, there he goes.

"Halt!" The captain screamed.

"You're not gonna kill me!"

"ARCHERS!"

A single arrow is loosed into his back. He falls. Three more follow to make sure. His body jerks as the final three arrows sink into his torso. He goes unnaturally limp in a matter of seconds.

I just let a man die to buy me a handful of seconds.

Meh, nothing that I could have done.

Seeing that it is my turn, I step up near the pair of Legionnaires and heard that those three words that will cement my existence here.

"Who… are you?"

Taking a deep breath, I look at that with my best poker face possible.

"My name is Masalus Thromonin. I'm an Imperial coming here to meet some family members."

Hadvar raises an eyebrow and looks at me weirdly. Huh, I'm still Asian here. Sweet, mixed race let's go.

"My father is an Altmer, and my mother is Imperial."

"Ah. That explains your slanted eyes and skin tone. However, other soldiers reported you were fleeing to the border."

Putting up an indignant face. I answered.

"Of course I was! I was crossing the border after getting permission from the Legate at the other side of Pale Pass. Walked downhill towards Falkreath when I stumbled on your ambush, I tried to run but one of your boys knocked me out or something. Next thing I knew, I'm in rags!"

Hadvar's surpised, I wouldn't blame him. They caught an innocent man by mistake!

"Captain, what should we do? He's not on the list."

"Forget the list." Skank. "He goes to the block."

"By your orders captain."

I really hope you got eaten by Alduin you fucking bitch. Even better if I caught you alone, I'm gonna make sure I'm going to make you hurt!

"I'm sorry. We'll make sure your remains are returned to Cyrodiil. Follow the captain prisoner."

Following what I was told, I stood next to a few Stormcloaks, who were throwing dirty looks at me. I flipped the bird to them. Next thing I heard, that redhead Stormcloak got his head chopped off. Huh?

_Anytime now buddy, give me that roar Alduin._

-_WROOOOAAAARRR-_

There he is, come to your brother you big scaly lizard!

"Next, the renegade from Cyrodiil."

Welp, show time.

I walk slowly toward the chopping block with a calmness that's unnatural, partly because I know the cavalry's coming. The redguard captain pushed me down onto my knees and bend me over to the block. When my neck was going down to touch the surface of the rock, my eyes light up in glee as I saw the black silhouette just pass by the mountain. Seconds later, I heard the panicking screams of every one as the headsman suddenly collapse. And that's my queue to leave.

Bolting up right, I rushes not to the tower or the direction I was facing but the opposite. I rushes as fast as I can, just moments before the Stormcall Shout brings down a meteor and collapses the archway. Effectively cutting any pursuers. Looking forward, I ducked near the walls and the house by my right as Alduin crashes near me and gobble up that poor Imperial archer. Divines blessing upon you my friend. Preparing to rushes into the keep, I saw at the far left side of my vision and couldn't believe my luck. There it is, two dead Altmer soldiers wearing Elven armor and a Thalmor Justiciar. Looking up, Alduin was doing rounds across Helgen's sky so I took the opportunity and rushes to the corpse.

Sliding across the dirt next to the corpses. I saw one of them was carrying an Elven dagger, I immediately grab it in reverse grip and slice my bindings with some difficulty. When my wrists are finally free. I begin stripping the Justiciar of her robes and right glove, the soldier of his boots and left gauntlet. All fits me perfectly and I was going to rushes into the keep and wait for Hadvar when I saw the other Elven soldier had an Elven sword and not a Steel one. Calling jackpot, I grabbed both the dagger and blade with their sheaths in my hand and make a break for the keep.

Not a minute sooner when I crashes through the wooden door, a stream of fire blazes through the air just mere meters I was at.

Slamming the door shut, I walked in and sit on the chair to take a breather. Once I got my breathing back to normal, I strap the sheath of the sword on my left hip while the dagger is on my right ankle. When I finished strapping the dagger, I heard the door open and turn to it quickly and saw Hadvar rushing in. Sprinting to the door, I slammed it close another time.

Looking down, I saw Hadvar was kneeling on the ground out of breath. Patting his back to assure him a bit.

"Deep long breaths in and exhale slowly. That will help you calm down faster without muscle aches."

After a few long breaths, Hadvar nods his head letting me know he's okay. I slowly step back to give him some room.

"You have my thanks stranger."

Hadvar finally looks at me and my clothes, recognizing the robes and my weapons, bow down quickly.

"My apologies Justiciar, I did not recognize you."

In any other case, I would laugh my ass off but we're short on time.

"Hey now, I'm not a Justiciar. It's me, the prisoner."

At this he bolted upright looking me with shocked eyes, his eyes then squinted before open wide again in recognition.

"Masalus?" he asked.

"Yep." I answered back, popping the P.

"Now, while I would love to stop and talk but we need to get out of Helgen. Do you know a way out?"

"Yes, there's a cave system down under the keep where we use to get supplies in."

I nodded my head before patting Hadvar's shoulder.

"That's good. You go get something for that burn and I will see if I can find a bow and arrow or keys if that door is locked."

Hadvar nodded his head and went to my left like in the game. So the only thing that I need is to get the keys to the door, in a big chest. Under a sword and some armor. Okay, realistically speaking, who's the idiot that put the key in a big chest that holds armors and weapons? Shrugging, I walk to the chest and open it to see if the key's in there.

…

…

…

Okay, either I'm fucking hallucinating or this is some kind of joke. Uncle Sheo maybe? Oh, the key's in there but what else is in there that baffles me. In the chest were firearms. 21st century fire-fucking-arms! And there's three of them!

Pulling the two biggest rifle out, I recognize them immediately.

A Gucci-ed out AR-15. A Faxon 16-inch barrel with a Strike Industry J-Comp V2 muzzle, 12-inch Spear M-Lok hand guard. A standard Mil-spec gas block, trigger and bolt carrier with a Radian Raptor charging handle, Magpul PMAG M3 40-round magazine. That was the modifications just for the gun itself and we haven't got to the accessories. An EOTech EXPS2-0 Reticle holo-sight, a flip-mounted Vortex 3x Magnifier. A SureFire M600 Beam flashlight mounted on the upper rail via Midwest SureFire QD mount. A Pinty Green Laser and a GG&G vertical grip. That is some spec-ed out AR-15 right here.

The second rifle is a Remington Mk 21 Precision Sniper Rifle, 27 inch barrel, ten round box magazine chamber in .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge and a suppressor pre-installed. A Schmidt & Bender 5–25x56 PMII scope. The rifle's frame is painted tan with the exception of the barrel, suppressor and scope.

Finally, the last firearm is a handgun. An H&K Mk23 MOD 0, the whole gun is painted black and grey. A suppressor attached to a 5.87 inch barrel, multi light unit with laser pointer and flash light, a red-dot sight. The gun is chambered in .45 ACP cartridge with a 12 round magazine, 13 if there's one already in the chamber.

All of them are reliable guns, relatively easy to maintain and clean, a lot of stopping power and piercing capability. The only thing restricting these weapons is the Remington's bolt action, my lack of firearm training, and ammo manufacture capability on my part. Looking deeper, I saw a holster for the Mk23, two straps for the AR-15 and MSR (civilian market name for the Mk21 PSR), but really shocking is right there in the chests are three box of .338 Lapua Magnum cartridge 20 round each box, four box of 5.56mm cartridge with 50 round each, three more box of .45 ACP with fifty cartridges per box. A military ammo box, two spare fully loaded magazine for the PSR, three for the Mk23 with two empty ones and three fully loaded PMAG. A belt to hold the extra magazines, and a pistol wrist mag pouch for fast reload when in a pinch.

All of them pales in comparison to the big black backpack, a black military Kevlar vest, a white ghillie suit with a green in-lay. However, the most baffling item inside is a book. Skimming the book slightly and I recognized the most horrifying thing this whole bloody day, this book not only have detail instruction in disassembling each gun, not only instruction on how to forge and replace each part but a map of a location of an ammunition workshop near Whiterun but instructions on how to produce my own ammo. Oh, making the casing and the lead bullet is easy, the primer and propellant is what is difficult. Not the black powder stuff before 19th century, the smokeless powder one, the propellant mainly use in the modern day firearms.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and I jerked violently. Noticing that I have collapsed and sitting on the floor, Hadvar was looking at me with worry.

"Are you alright, prisoner? You're looking pale."

Gulping down my saliva, I began taking off the outer coat of the robes and put on the Kevlar vest and put on the magazine of my PSR and AR, strapping on the belt and put in the loaded magazine on my right hip, the empty ones further around the back of my waist. Wrapping the wrist strap on the glove and putting on the Thalmor robe on again but I ditched its own belt except the buckler. The pistol's holster strapped on my right thigh.

"I just found out something terrifying but I'll explain later when we get out of Helgen."

After that, I opened the steel ammo box and put the ammo boxes in and close the lid. Rolling up the ghillie suit and put it in the backpack after the ammo box with the book in seconds later. Slinging the AR and PSR after I had the backpack on and my Mk23 in its holster.

Walking into the next room silently, Hadvar and I both heard sounds coming from the room.

"We need to get moving! That dragon is tearing up the whole keep!"

"Just give me a minute...I'm out of breath..."

I signal Hadvar to keep quite as I whispered to him.

"Stormcloaks ahead, get in there slowly and see if you can negotiate with them. We need all the people we can get to escape Helgen. But if they're hostile, don't move and cover your ear."

Hadvar nodded and went to open the gate and walks slowly into the room. While he was walking in, I already had my pistol drawn, safety off and chambered in a round. I waited patiently as Hadvar tried to negotiate.

"Hold on now, I only want to..."

He was interrupted by the sound of weapons drawn and that is my queue to enter. Storming through the shadow of the door, I moved right behind Hadvar to his left, I pointed my gun forward, aligned the sight perfectly and squeezed the trigger hard.

_Pfft, Pfft._

_Pfft, Pfft._

Four bullets came out of my gun and into the body of the two Stormcloaks, each got a bullet in their heart and their throat. They never had a chance against firearms. Two body collapses onto the stone floor with blood seeping from their throat and chest. Hadvar just turn his head back to me with his terrified eyes. Looking at him straight in the eye.

"This was what terrified me."

Hadvar just stare dumbly at me and at the pistol in my hands.

"We should continue." I urged him on and we are on our way but not before I picked up the four brass casing on the floor and put it in an empty pocket on my vest.

We continued into the keep and I saw no sign of Ralof, Divine bless him, or any more Stormcloaks in the storage room where Hadvar and I picked up some Minor Healing potion, two for each of us. After a while we reached the torture room where we heard screaming.

"A torture room. Gods, I wish we didn't need these…" Hadvar exclaimed.

Going down, we saw the people in there are already fighting. I holstered my pistol and draw my Elven sword and dashes into the fray. There's five Stormcloaks inside, none of them noticed my arrival and I capitalized on that. Jumping down the last few steps, I jam my blade downward towards the sole archer in the room in the chest. Pulling my blade free, I turn to my right just in time to catch the shaft of a Warhammer. The force behind the force caused my left arm to become numb a bit but I continued on by pulling the hammer towards me and shoulder tackle the man, his grip and mine still firm on the shaft. I crouched low to my right pulling the man somewhat along with me. A woman tried to attack me from my left but hit the Stormcloak I was wrestling with instead. The third Stormcloak wielding a sword and shield tried to stab me but I was crouching low so I push my whole body upward dodging his sword and stab mine through his stomach. I pulled my blade free and let go of the warhammer to stab the woman on my left the same time as Hadvar let loose an arrow into her throat.

The man under me was already dead when his sister in arm strike him instead of me. Looking towards the torturer and his assistant, I see that they had already taken care of the last Stormcloak. I ignored the both of them as Hadvar walks up to them to explain the situation in favor of grabbing the satchel, the lock picks and a few Septims on the table and put them into the satchel. I walked to the cage holding the corpse of the mage, I tried to pick the lock. It took two failure before I finally got it. Damn, lock picking in real life is hard especially when it's Oblivion's lock pick system. I quickly got the Spell tome for Spark, the gold on the cell floor, in the mage's robe and his Magicka potion.

After that, me and Hadvar continue into the cave. We didn't encounter anyone but the frostbite spiders, which I dealt with my AR-15, Hadvar was momentarily disoriented from the sound of the rifle, I was too. After the spider we saw a bear but sneaks by it quickly. Minutes later, we saw the light at the end of the cave and rushes through, the light blinds us for a few seconds. Two steps out of the cave entrance, my arm bolt out to stop Hadvar from walking when a gigantic shadow loomed over us as Alduin flew by us, his flapping wings shaking the earth beneath us. After we were sure that he was far enough, both Hadvar and I collapse on the ground breathing in breaths we didn't know we were holding back.

"Huff…we should…huff…go to Riverwood…I have and uncle there…huff…he should be able to help us."

"Yeah…huff…that's a good idea."

After a few more seconds, we got back on our feet and went on our way to Riverwood and with the sun just above our head, it's probably mid-day plenty of time to travel and prepare until night fall. Along the way we made some small talk but didn't hold the conversation long enough.

"Hey, this might be rude from me but I didn't get your name." Of course I know his name, but it's gonna be weird as fuck if suddenly I called him by his name, a name which to him, he hadn't given me yet.

"Ah. My apologies, I knew your name but you didn't mine. My name is Hadvar. Hadvar of Riverwood." He replied as he brought his hand out.

I brought my arm up to grab his forearm as he did mine. Common courtesy among nords if I recall. A few more moments of silence I remembered that I had promised to explain to him when we got out of Helgen.

"I promised that I'll explain what got me so spooked right?"

Looking at Hadvar, I notice he was a bit confused until recognition flashes on his face.

"That's right, what was in that book that got you so pale? And what was those weird thing?"

Yeah, he forgot about it alright. But I didn't really mind, Hadvar's a good man, I can trust him.

"I'll explain what it is but you have to promised to not to tell anyone about what I'm going to tell you. Deal?"

Hadvar didn't replied, he just nodded.

"Where do I start?" I asked myself, thinking where I should begin. After a moment, I decided from the start.

"I'm not from Nirn, in fact I'm from a realm even beyond Oblivion. Also I should be dead. But for some reason, I'm still alive and I'm here in Skyrim, it could have been one of my gods or one of your divines." I shrugged, it really didn't matter. When I go into Bleak Falls Barrow, the answer will be there.

"The reason I'm here must be to replace a person of importance in the future, but I need to go into a Barrow to confirm it. But I guess you would think I'm mad huh?"

My lips curl into a small smile as I look at Hadvar. I was prepared for Hadvar to laugh it off saying that I was jesting or just calls me mad. What I didn't expecting was for him to laugh it off like he finally understood something.

"What? You believe me just like that?"

"The Oblivion Crisis was but two-hundred years ago, the Great War was thirty years ago and now Dragons from myth are back. A fellow man appearing from another world may or may not to deal with our problem is not that weird or bizarre my friend."

"Then I guess I will have to explain to you how our weapons work yes?"

I then got to explaining how firearms works, the bare bone basics. How widely it is use, and how the common armor of this land ain't going to do jack shit. I mean, a .45 ACP cartridge can pierce through a full metal plate armor with layered chainmail and leather and I am carrying with me 5.56mm and .338 cartridges! The only material that can with stand bullets by my estimation is Ebony, Dragonbone and Daedric metal, even then a shot or two is going to leave big bruises, three and above I can guaranty a kill. Hearing this made Hadvar shit himself, I think. He's just keep walking, face a blank mask and kept silent. After a few minutes, he managed to gain back his wit and pretend that anything I told him didn't happen. At least I haven't told him about anti-material cartridges or suppressor yet.

After that we talked for hours, mostly him asking about the modern life and such things. After finally noticing that the sky is turning dark, the orange glow of the sun is still over the west horizon. I turn to Hadvar and saw that he realizes the same thing, so we decided to make camp. Hadvar will take care of the tent and I'll hunt game while gathering firewood. Before that I also remembered that the Guardian Stones are right beside the riverside down this road and I can hear the sound of water running so I took a trek down, gathering wood branches along the way before reaching the three standing stones. Come to think of it, I haven't tried out Magic since I got out of Helgen.

* * *

Standing in front of the three standing stones, I marveled at the sheer craftsmanship of the three stone. Time may have eroded some of the part of the stones, mosses already growing on the surface with vines curling around but it just added to their natural beauty. And the power reside in each stone is so powerful that I can feel it humming in the air. But a person can only choose one standing stone so I'm conflicted. Accelerating my progress in magic is tempting but ensuring my survival in combat comes first, anything to do with stealth is still a long way down the road. So stepping closer to the Warrior Stone on my right, I put my palm on its surface before the stone lights up and a pillar of light shot up to the sky. My body however, I feel lighter, my muscle responds better, my eyesight clearer and my hearing sharper. Not to mention the sheer strength behind my muscle movements, strength that wasn't there before.

Huh.

So this is how it feels like, the Stones boosts aspect of your body according to the type you choose. As amazing these feelings are I need to hunt game for dinner and just so happens an elk just waltz behind me, how do I know? Well, hearing shuffling behind my back, I immediately turn around with my pistol drawn and shot the elk in the head. The power of a .45 ACP cartridge pierce through its skull and brain easily. Shrugging my shoulder, I grab a lot of the big leaves near me and tear away the leaves and I was left with the cores. Which I tie two core together and twist them around each other and tie down the other end. I repeated this action three more times and tie the braches I had already collected and the elk's front and rear leg together. Walking back towards camp, I saw that Hadvar had already set up some shelter from leaves branches and grass, already started a small fire too.

I put down the elk and branches and start to break the branches into shorter pieces and throw them into the fire while Hadvar is busy skinning the elk and breaks off the antlers. After Hadvar had finished skinning the elk, the meat is being cut from the carcass with the dagger I lend him. Seeing as how there's only two men, the only meat we ate was from the elk's thigh, while the smell was divine, probably due to the smoke from the wood that we were using as fuel, the meat itself is bland. We finish up dinner and cover the elk's carcass with leaves and burnt charcoal to hide away the scent of blood so predators don't come near us. While Hadvar is keeping watch and tending to flame, I took out the Spell Tome and the ammo box for my pistol and AR and started to reload my rifle and pistol. The spent casing are put back into the box for later use. Putting the ammo boxes into the backpack, I finally got to read how to cast magic in Skyrim!

This is so fucking exciting! Can you imagine it, the power to destroy and disrupt an army the tip of your fingers, the power to save or end a life! All within your finger tips!

Now, Destruction magic, as the name implies, is the branch of magic use for destruction. Anything from small scale fire, frost and shock to massive inferno, flesh rending blizzard and catastrophic thunderstorm with howling winds and lightning. Now, what makes this particular branch of magic, or any of them for that matter, so hard is because the energy requirements and the theory behind how things are the way they are. For a dedicated mage or anyone who wishes to learn magic, the magicka requirements used to enact the phenomena can be increase when practices hard enough. Understanding the reality of the phenomena is another thing entirely, because science is very limited in this realm it is hard for the practitioner to do magic through feeling their innate energy from books alone. However, for a 21st century enrolled university student, such theory behind electricity, thermodynamics, basic chemistry and biology such thing is but a recall of memory. The only thing I think I will struggle in is Conjuration, the Meta physics behind how they open a theoretical wormhole or anything to shorten the physical distance between objects and places is going to be beyond me. That however is not within my interest so, I'm pretty much set for magic, just need to increase my reserve of magicka, optimize my usage of magicka and recall the science of it.

Enough self-monologue, I begin to read the book, not without using the flash light from the pistol of course, and I have to say who ever wrote this book knew what they were doing. Since the Spark spell is a novice spell, the instruction is entirely dedicated to beginners on how to get a fell and access the reserve of magicka first then it was how to use such energy to cast the spell through focus, intent and the general feel of electricity within their body. After spending near to an hour I think, I finally got the hang of accessing and general feel of my magicka, I got to the step of feeling the tingly, jolting feeling within the body and I am quoting the book here, so I skipped it and try to remember the science of electricity. Matter are composed of atoms and atoms consist of a nucleus and electrons right? And electricity is the word to generally describe the phenomena of the exchange of energy between atoms, particularly between a negative charge and a positive charge.

So I focused the entirely on the process of adding electron in the atoms of air between my left palm, and when I felt the tingling between my fingers like in the book, I channel magicka into a hollow sphere to contain the charging air. Once the sphere is sturdy and solid enough to contain and reroute any early electrical discharge, I pumped more magicka into the air further adding more electrons into atoms. Just a few seconds later the previous sphere of luminance light begins to glow the familiar dark blue with stray electric current managing to escape. I directed my palm outward to an empty area and let loose the current. Letting the negative charge from my palm to connect with the closest object with a positive charge.

_**BOOOOM!**_

Holy fucking mother of Jesus Christ!

That was not a Spark spell! That was a fucking Thunderbolt spell, an adept level spell. A fucking Expert level spell!

This. This is.

_This is fucking marvelous!_

Grinning from ear to ear, I repeated the same steps but this time instead of cutting my magicka when I let the spell loose. I kept the protective barrier between my open palm and continue to pour more magicka to maintain the electrical charge and _holy fuck!_ I'm a Sith! Because honest to god, I just performed Sith Lightning!

_**UNLIMITED POWAAAA!**_

I managed to keep the spell up for another 5 seconds before I feel my reserve fully spent. Sweats are pouring from my forehead like a wave but I felt accomplished and woefully drunk on power! I felt so giddy, so disbelieved and so excited I broke out laughing like a mad man.

"Ha ha ha ha ha!"

My laughter must have scared or disturbed Hadvar as when I turn to look at Hadvar, his eyes were wide as saucers, his mouth agape from the sheer terror or disbelieve. I don't know, I couldn't believe it myself!

"That my good friend, was the first time I ever use magic." I said this while smiling like a loon.

Hadvar must have gotten his act together and looks at me with a blank look.

"My friend Masalus, if that was what said is your first time casting magic then I shudder to think when you master the art."

Looking at him cheekily, I simply reply back.

"There's a lot of things I want to do with magic and you can bet that I will do it. In fact, up next Fire and Ice!"

Now, thermodynamics. To make fire, you need to have the fire trinity. Heat, oxygen and fuel. We're still breathing right now so oxygen is checked, fuel and heat unchecked. So what we need to do is using magicka to replace said missing requirements. Heat is generated by atoms moving aggressively so magicka will be used to make the atoms of air to vibrate itself to produce heat. Next is fuel, beside solid material you can also uses gas to perform the same chemical reaction and the best gas to use as fuel is Methane or CH4. If you paid attention in chemistry class, the equation is the following.

CH4 + 2 O2 + Heat - CO2 + 2 H2O.

Again, using magicka to modify the air to form into Methane.

_Fhoom!_

Right there before my eyes a flame burst into life with a bright red glow, the familiar crackling of carbon being break down and releases its energy. This should be an achievement for anyone sure but a deep red fire? That's about six-hundred to eight-hundred degree Celsius I need a bright white flame that's around thirteen-hundred to fifteen-hundred degree Celsius. And since making more Methane is really counter-productive I'll have to use pure magicka as fuel and since magicka is as close as you can get to pure energy, it'll make a great source of fuel. When I felt that the Methane was about to run out, I pumped raw magicka I to the flame and the moment magicka entered the flame and being use as fuel I had to shield my eyes and face when the flame ignited once more. This time, instead of a flame floating in my palm my whole hand is on fire! But it didn't feel hot or the gauntlet is heating up, I thought that I have done something wrong until a stray leaf glides near my flaming hand and got reduced to ashes. The leaf didn't even get near the flame, it just suddenly combust and turn into ash!

I then got a stupid idea, it's stupid and probably going fail but I'm doing it. For my inner child-weeb demands it!

Inter locking my fingers from the middle to the pinky together, my thumbs pointed in and downward, my index fingers pointed upwards and form a triangle. The flame that was coating my left hand is now just floating over my index fingers, the flame shrunk but I didn't bother to care as I already pumped a lot of magicka. All I need right now is a pair of red eyes!

Now. Here goes nothing!

"_**Katon: Gouka Mekkyaku!"**_

_**[Fire style: Majestic Destroyer!]**_

The once small flicker of flame is now a giant tsunami of brilliant white flame, illuminating the whole forest around us like the sun had not disappeared behind the mountain range. I managed to keep exhaling for another three seconds before cutting the flow of magicka into my hands because I'm out of breath. Damn I'm cool.

Now, next item on list. Ice, probably the easiest since what you essentially do is prevent the movement of atoms, robbing them of their kinetic energy necessary to form heat. Now using ice projectile is boring so I take a page out from Sub-zero's book. Looking toward the same clearing that I shot lightning at and put my palm on the ground to saturate my magicka on the stone steps and flash-freeze the floor, not finished yet so I continued to funnel more magicka into cones of various sizes. Right after I felt the cones had been form I pulled heat immediately from the air, forming wicked ice pikes that will surely impale any unlucky sods that didn't got away in time, not like they can since slippery floor and all that. Finally exhausted, I collapse onto the leaf sheets that is our bed. First day in Skyrim and I already made some good progress on my prowess in battle, next day will be venturing into Bleak Falls Barrow by mid day tomorrow if we start travelling early. Get the Dragon Stone, the Golden Claw and loot every weapons the bandits have on their body and from chests, might get some precious gems too. After that, Riverwood to spend the night, get some Septims from selling the weapons to Alvor, get paid for retrieving the Golden Claw and buy supplies for the trip to Whiterun, mainly a thick fur coat and spices because no way in hell am I eating unsalted meat. Nah uh.

Turning to Hadvar, I saw that he hasn't asleep yet.

"Hey, Hadvar. What does your uncle do for a living?"

"Uncle Alvor is the town's smith, you need anything hammered, he's your man."

I hum to myself, thinking what I could get from Alvor's services. Remembering that protection for my shoulders, upper arms and my right fore arm are a bit lacking. Commissioning a small pair of pauldrons and a vambrace.

"Hey Hadvar, think your uncle can make me a pair of steel pauldrons and a steel vambrace for me? I'll pay for the work, extra if he can rush it."

"Of course, I'll put the word for him. But how are you going to pay for it?" He looks at me curiously, probably wondering how I am going to pay his uncle.

"I'm going to a Barrow tomorrow, remember? Bandits will be camping out of that one, I'll just take away their weapons and resell them at the local trader. Not to mention that there's going to be some ore veins in them. I'll mine it, transmute it to gold and pay your uncle with a few solid ingots of gold."

Which is true, there's about two iron ore veins in the last room and a mine ran by bandits opposite of Bleak Falls Tower, still iron I think. What I didn't tell him is that there's ten chests in total when clearing the Barrow. Various potions and scrolls, all ripe for looting and selling.

After contemplating things to do tomorrow, I decide to shut my eyes to get some rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow.


	3. Bleak Falls Barrow

Chapter 3: Bleak Falls Barrow.

-oOo-

"Normal speech"

'_Thoughts_'

"**Deep voice or powerful"**

"**THU'UM!"**

-oOo-

The next day we woke up early, evidently by the dark sky. The fire had burnt out last night so I lit up a new fire to warm our self then proceed to cook breakfast with the venison from last night. Skyrim is cold so corpses don't rot as fast or smell as much. After telling Hadvar to cook spare and wrap them up in leaves so the both of us won't have to hunt something for lunch and waste perfectly good meat from the elk and then we are on our way. An hour or two later we walk across a small path on our right that leads up, Hadvar doesn't seem to notice it but I remember that's the path towards the bandit mine, Embershard mine if I recall correctly, marking this in my mind as important place to raid.

That said Bleak Falls Barrow should be a few minutes away. A lot of loot in the Barrow and the mines if I can transmute the iron ingot to gold ingot. That's right, no transmuting iron to silver then silver to gold, ores no less. That's highly inefficient a loss of gold too. I mean, transmute one iron ore twice just to have a gold ore and then it takes two gold ore to make an ingot! I lost half the possible profit from spending my time and effort when I could throw the traditional way right out of the fucking window!

But I digress. Other than ores, the mine would have some weapon stash of the bandits, the weapon they use themselves and three chest and couple of coin purse. I'll be stinking rich after one round, and that's talking about the game logic, not real logic. If we're using real logic then there's going to be more than 24 iron ingots for me to plunder! Oh, precious gems too!

Calling out to Hadvar, I told him to go on without me because I'll be spending two days at most. One for travelling and one for raiding and looting.

"So long, friend. May we see each other soon." Hadvar said as he waves at me before continuing his walk to Riverwood, he should arrive there by mid-day, afternoon at most.

Me, onto Embershard mine.

Trekking up the path slowly and among the bushes, need to know if there's going to be a guard standing outside. Wouldn't you know it, there's one standing right there by the wood pillar on my right. Creeping just a bit closer while still hiding in the bushes, I notice that the guard is a female nord wearing a full set of leather armor and a steel sword? Damn, that's one well equip bandit. Doesn't matter anyway. Touching the ground, I flooded the ground, the pillar behind the woman and the air just around her lips with my magicka then pull the heat, instantly freezing the ground and the pillar as spikes came crashing out, impaling through her leather armor and into her chest and legs. She tries to screams for her comrade inside but the air around her mouth froze her lips shut, only able to let out a pitifully small sound. Walking up to her I pull the steel sword free along with its scabbard and dumped it to the wheel-cart next to my left. Rummaging through her body to see anything value, I picked up a piece of paper. Curious, I unfolded the paper and read the content inside.

'_Orders are clear, your group are to make camp at Embershard mine and gather any iron you can and make steel with the Corundum you were provided. Make all the weapons and armor you can. The raid on Rorikstead will be the first day of Frostfall'_

Damn, better get this to Jarl Balgruuf.

Ripping some leaves and braches down the tree and cover the cart from prying eyes, I'll be needing it get all the weapons and ingots to Riverwood without over encumbering myself. Leaving my backpack and both of my rifle behind, clearing this mine won't need the firepower.

Opening the wooden door silently, I walk down the cave tunnel sticking to my right to avoid setting the trip wire off, turn left and look down to my right and saw two more bandits talking to each other. Picking up a decent sized pebble, I chuck it at the bandits. I lingered just long enough for the bastard to notices me before running back in crouching by the wall to my left, dagger drawn on my left hand and waited for them to be stupid enough to forget about the trap and rushes my position.

The plan worked, one of them rushes in first into the tunnel only to get a dagger dig into his jaw from bellow, said dagger long enough to pierces his brain. Not wasting my time, my right hand grab onto the man's extended arm and judo throw him to my right. The man's body hit the wall hard.

This time instead of staying there, I retreated up mindful of the trip wire. My dagger still drawn millimeters away from the trip wire and I waited for the second one. The bandit must have seen his partner body being thrown because when he came crashing through, his war axe immediately head to the wall blindly. I just whistle to get the man attention and he whips his head to my direction only to realize in horror when he saw I cut the trip wire, letting big chunk of stones and rocks falling down on his body and head, killing him. I took away both of the men's weapon, any septims they have and laid them near the entrance.

Continuing on, I go down to the fire pit on my right and pick up the coin purse and pickaxe not before tasting some of the stew they already had though, this time I finally got some taste in my mouth, still need more salt in the stew.

Going up to the room through the tunnel, grab the coin purse, a ruby and a garnet before pulling the lever, lowering the bridge with a loud bang. From the right side of the lowered bridge came out two more bandits. But these two look more experienced and well equipped, steel armor, boots and gauntlet. Not that it mattered anyway, none of them are carrying a bow and arrow so they won't be able to take me out from range they'll have to go through the same tunnel I went through.

"Hey dipshits!" I screamed out to them as I flipped them the bird.

The gesture must have mean the same thing here in Skyrim seeing as how the two of them now sport a snarl on their face as they draw their weapons going through the way I got in. Turn8ng towards the entry way, I flooded the whole passage with my magicka waiting for the two of them to show up. The second I saw them I flash freeze the air, trapping those fuckers in ice.

Damn, flooding a whole space rather than a surface is not efficient, that and the back-lash expelling a huge amount of magicka for a long time only to waste two third of them is not good on the body. Taking the only magicka potion I have in my satchel and gulp it down to restore enough magicka so I don't feel as exhausted. Taking a few seconds for my reserve to fill up, I conjured up a thin ice spike and walk up to the two bandit frozen in place seemingly still breathing. Stabbing the closest one in the throat, I saw that my own ice spike pierce through the thick layer of ice easily, like there's nothing there to stop my ice spike from going through. I'll shelf that for later.

Pulling the spike out also seems to reabsorb the ice and a small portion of my magicka. Turning to the second man, who's shaking violently in the ice, out of fright or rage I don't know. All I know that I stabbed my spike again into the ice and through the bandit's throat killing him. Pulling my spike out again and let it absorb the ice making the spike now longer and thicker, affectively a spear now.

Holding onto it a bit more, I took everything that I could fit the satchel, which consist of a another coin purse, two more gems and a potion labeled '_cure disease_'. Huh, they label their potions, neat.

Walking through the bridge, I begin to crouch low and sneak silently as I can into the tunnel. If memories serves correctly, there should be another one sitting behind a wooden wall. There! A light source going through a wooden wall. Peaking behind a small gap, there she is! Another bandit sitting back against me. Grabbing onto my ice spear, I lift it up and align it to where I think it will end up stabbing the woman. When I felt luckily enough to pull this off, I stood to my full height and jam the spear forward fast and hard. I was rewarded with the sound of flesh being punctured and a wet gurgle from the woman, at that I pulled the spear free leaving a gaping hole in the woman's throat bleeding furiously. A few seconds later, she collapses onto the ground.

Walking around the corner, I picked up all the gems on the table, the purse and open up the big ass chest. Inside there's a fat coin purse, a few more gems, a lot of steel swords, maces and _holy shit!_

A fucking Ebony bow! An _**Ebony bow**_**!**

Not just any Ebony bow, it's Crazy Lion's retexture of the Ebony weapons. This is glorious!

Slinging the bow on my back and shift through the content of the chest, I picked up a silver necklace with a deep green glow pulsing around it. Not wasting any chance I put it around my neck and hide it underneath my tunic and vest. Seeing no more interesting items, I marked this chest for looting later.

After going through the last tunnel, I reached the end of the mine, where the waterfall lays at and the last three bandits to kill. In this cave opening, the most prevalent sound is the hammering of metal upon an anvil, just where the sound originate from is the light of a furnace burning brightly. Sneaking up in the shadows of the cave I approach the ramp that leads down to the smithing furnace. The ice lance I had before had been broken into two smaller pieces around the length of an arrow. Drawing my newly acquired Ebony bow, I nocked both arrows but only one in a firing position, draw the strings back as far as I can and take aim. Once I felt that the arrow will align with the target, I let the arrow loose. Not waiting to see if the arrow hits its mark, I immediately nock the last arrow, aim at the archer on the bridge over-head and let the arrow loose. After that I rushes to the stone pillar on my left as cover incase the archer isn't dead. I rushes near the pillar just in time to parry a sword strike with my bow and grab the man's face and pull heat from his head killing him instantly.

Peaking out of the pillar to see if the archer survived only to pull my head back to dodge an arrow to the face. Apparently, the archer survives. Forming two more arrows, these two however are wider, slightly longer and in a twisted drill like form but more streamlined than an actual drill. Nocking one onto the bow and draw the bow fully, I peak out of cover and shot the arrow not to the archer's position but rather the bridge. My arrow hit the bridge and froze a large area of the wooden bridge, nocking the last arrow and fire at the last place the previous one hits.

_Crack! Snap!_

_Crunch!_

I can hear the sound of ice shattering, wood snapping and breaking but that's not the only thing that broke. The archer must have fallen off and broke a few bones. Jogging down the ramp, I saw the corpse of the bandit near the smith lying motionless, an ice arrow poking out of his back, huh. Walking up to the archer I draw my dagger and prepared to finish up and start looting gear then mine the iron ores.

"Please! Stop! Spare me, please!"

A bandit, asking for mercy. That's a first, too bad that the bandit seems to be alive, meh I will interrogate her for information. Regardless, with a flick of my hand, her legs and left arm are incased in ice, bot much that it will give her frostbite, just enough to hold her still if she decides to attack me. Crouching just a feet away from her, I point my dagger at her face and try to be as intimidating as I can.

"I'm going to ask you some questions. Depending on your answer, I'll let you go with some conditions."

The woman seems to hesitate and rather reluctant, so I conjured up ice spikes a hair's breadth from her left temple. This frighten the woman greatly.

"That wasn't a choice. You will answer my question, won't you?" I asked.

The woman nodded so quick I thought she was going to impale herself on my spikes.

"Were you bandits camping here to make steel?"

A nod.

"Is it true that you lot will be making a small raid at Rorikstead by the first day of Frostfall?"

Another nod.

"Where are your other camps?"

This time she doesn't do anything, annoyed I ask again.

"Where are the other camps?"

Still silence. Leaving out a frustrated grunt, I reversed my grip on the dagger and jammed it down her thigh, burying it to the hilt. The woman screams but I didn't stop and twist the dagger making the wound open wider.

"I'll ask for the last time. Where are the other camps?"

This time the woman answers albeit a pitiful whimper.

"Halted S…Stream Camp. N…North of Whiterun."

Ripping out the dagger, I pop back her arm into the joint and stand up to my full height while dismissing the ice. I'm a man of my word after all. The woman scramble onto her legs and run out but I grab her arm, leaning close to her and whispered into her ear.

"You better came clean and start making an honest living. Join the companion if you want work that can put your bow and arrow to good use. But I promise you, if what you said are false. I will find you. And I will kill you."

I let go of her arm and saw her grabbing her bow and sprint out of the cave, to the direction where the exit would be. That done, I then proceed to loot the two chest in this cave got an enchanted ring that reduces the cost for my destruction spells. Walking up the ramp, I grab a bedroll, a pot and a shallow ceramic plate. Then I proceed to do some mining. Contrary to what people think, mining isn't walk to a vein mine some piece of rock and melt it. You need to grind the rocks to separate the metal you want easier, then mix it with some coal then you melt the whole thing down.

Laying the bedroll down near the ore vein, I pick up the pickaxe up and started slamming it down onto the vein making a crack on the surface, dropping the pickaxe down again and this time it broke off a few fist size chunks of stones. Repeating this a few more time until the stone cover a decent area. I then walk back to the smith to pick up the hammer, however I saw neatly inside the cave's wall is a smelter, a smaller one but a smelter nevertheless. Walking back to where the ores are, I drop in enough ores to fill half the pot and started grinding and hammering down the ores finely. After that, fill up the pot with water and mix it well, the dirt will most likely float up to form a layer of mud. Pouring the mud out lightly, I've got more water into the pot and channel electricity into the hammer head making it a temporary magnet and dip it into water, stirring the head a few times. Right there sticking to the surface of the once light grey hammer is a layer of black iron dust. Bring the hammer head to the plate and cut the electricity, letting the iron to fall from the hammer head. I repeated this process a few more times for about like an hour or two can't be so sure, during this time I went through different veins and started mining.

After all that, and another hour for the smelting process, now I got around 25 iron ingot from mining alone. Five more ingots and a couple of steel ingots pre-made by the bandits. Now the physical work is done, here comes the headache-inducing one.

Expelling magicka through my palm, I focus on the number of electron protons and neutrons they are going to add into every single atom, atom by atom. Once I felt that the necessarily math have been completed and the spell consolidate into the green floating squares, I brought an ingot on my palm and let loose the magicka. In a bright flash of green light, the once solid ingot iron is now glittering the color of gold.

Picking up the ingot to test its weight, I feel the ingot's weight around three or four times heavier, which is a good thing because that's how gold should weight compare to iron with the same volume and dimension. Setting the gild bar down, I began to repeat the same process twenty-nine more times and by the end of the thirtieth ingot I'm completely drained of magicka and collapsing on the ground, out of breath. Magicka exhaustion might not affect any physical aspect but damn does it drain you mentally, applying the same complex math matrix thirty times ain't no joke. Now, how to carry all these ingots to the wooden cart I have outside, all of the ingots which weights a few hundred kilos. Okay, in hindsight I should have gotten the ingots out of the cave first then get them into gold. Damn.

Okay, creative thinking. Anything that can help, carry a few ingots one at a time? Nope, that will take forever. Getting the cart in? Nope, the slope at the entrance of the mine. Levitate? No, I don't know Telekinesis yet. Ice-skates? Possible. Gonna need some work on how that is going to work. Ice floor is for sure, but I'm not pushing the whole package of gold, I could continuously form something akin to a battering ram and pushes the carrier of gold. Yes, that will work. The last thing to keep note is the slope at the entrance. It's not that steep but it is upward. Slide perhaps, conjure up a slide to a point higher than the entrance, conjure a pillar underneath the carrier and connect it to the slide and push the carrier to the entrance.

Okay, plan finished, let's get to work.

.

In hindsight, again, this shit takes a lot of magicka, ten minutes in and I barely got half way across the bridge. Good news is, I'm almost finished. Conjure up an ice bridge diagonally from the bridge, I continue to push the ice crate full of gold until I reached the entrance, where I set up the slide, pillar and push it to the wooden door. What I forgot about is a crate probably weight a few hundred kilos just moving will crash through a flimsy wooden door. Oops?

Meh. I got my gold out, that's what matters. Encasing the gold in a solid block of ice I went back in the mine and strip any weapons and decent pieces of armor the bandits had, afterwards into the cart they go. This time, certain that I had finished everything, I got my guns and hid all of my loot, collapsing a few trees just to hide the way to the mine and off to Bleak Falls Barrow I go.

Walking across the river is a piece of cake if you can freeze the water with every step that you take, in fact, now I regret not taking up roller skating, I would have been able to ice skates through Skyrim! Ah, but back to reality I suppose. Walking up near the watch tower, I got my bow, nocked an arrow and let it loose at a guard standing next to a tree. However, my aim must have off. The woman was leaning against the tree by my right. I aim at her and let the arrow loose, but the arrow didn't hit her directly. My arrow went to the tree instead, but if we're talking realistically my arrow should have been stop right? Yeah, it should but instead it tore through the tree bark and the woman's torso in one go!

I nearly vomited right there! The scene was bloody horrific! Pun not intended. But, holy shit that was fucking scary! Keep in mind, ice arrows leaves a HUGE exit wound! Like a bunker buster. A jacket to pierce through the first layer of defense and the big ass block of lead absolutely destroys what is behind the cover!

"What the fuck?!"

The scream of the bandit within the tower breaks me out of my musing, making me draw my dagger and take cover behind the entrance. Upon hearing his steps getting really close to me, I immediately rush inside, brought my dagger up under the bandit's jaw and kick his corpse away. Another quick kill. Scaling to the top of the tower, I saw another bandit and quickly skewer him with an ice spike. The chest atop of the tower doesn't have much so I just looted the coins and went down to the path that leads to the Barrow.

Jogging up the hill I sling my sniping rifle into my hand and look through the scope, both eyes open of course, and scout out the entrance of the Barrow, partially hidden by a tree or two. Right there on the ledges far to my left stood two archers a few meters away from each other. Propping up my rifle's bipod onto a stone, I took aim at the 'nearest' archer. Taking up the environment conditions, there's no wind, the air is rather crisp and I'm just a bit lower in position than the archer.

Aiming upright just a few millimeters from the archer's head, taking a few deep breaths.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale.

Taking one last breath in and hold, I pull the trigger.

_Pfft._

_Crack._

The trigger is light, around four pounds of force I think. But doesn't really affect me. Looking through the scope again, I can see the archer is clutching his neck and the one behind him is rushing towards his comrade. Cycling the bolt, I take aim again. This time waiting for the second archer to lay down the first one, I adjusted my aim and fire another bullet from my Remington. Good time too because the second archer just let out a scream for help before my bullet hit him somewhere along his torso. He'll bleed out before his comrades can get to him, not like they could do anything to help. Healing potion won't do jack shit if the bullet is still in his body, but this is a .338 Lapua Magnum here, the guy probably has a huge exit wound on his back, try to heal from that you scum.

Cycling the bolt, I collapse the bipod and sling the rifle back and bring out my AR. Walking towards the Barrow while humming a jolly tune along the way. Once I got half way through the steps, I prop my AR aiming down the sight. Right there, where the corpses of the two archers are the three other bandits standing close to each other wearing a miss-matched set of iron, leather and fur armors. Seeing as how they haven't notice me yet, I took a look around the entrance and saw two more bandits standing around the middle pillar in front of the big gate looking alarm. Seeing as there's no more bandits hiding, I line up my sight on the three bandits and pull the trigger.

_Bang! Bang!_

One down.

"What the fu…!"

_Bang! Bang!_

Two down.

"Where in Obli…!"

_Bang!_ Ooh, headshot.

Three down, two more to go.

Turning around I put four more bullet into the last two, both of them falling in a heap as they got two pieces of lead coming at them faster than sound. Picking up the casings, I let my AR rest on my back as I take out my pistol and dagger. Come to think of it, I should really re-position my dagger but that something for the future.

Opening the big ass gate just a tiny bit, enough for me to wiggle through because that thing is heavy as balls. I jog to the pillar while keeping my body low. Once I got behind the pillar, I take a few more shots at the two bandits that were lollygagging and swiped the gold from their chest. I made my way through the Barrow. Now, Bethesda did not do the Barrow any justice because it's huge as fuck! The tunnel alone took me a few minutes to go through and the ceiling is high! Like 5 meters high!

After going through the tunnels with wonder, I come across a flight of stairs going down. Recognizing this is where the puzzle room is, I sneak down the stairs while listening to the sound of arrows firing.

_Prrffft!_

There it is!

Jogging down the stairs quickly to see if the bandit's dead. Yep, totally dead. Like porcupine dead.

Well, I hoped that the puzzle is going to be grander but it's the same as the game but I didn't let it stop me. Spinning the right combination of the lock, I pulled the lever letting the iron fence pull up. Quite dull actually. But the skeevers are not. Damn rats, scared the living shit out of me, nothing a bit of fire wouldn't solve though.

Burn, you damn cretins! Burn!

Okay, that was a bit over the top. No, I'm not afraid of rats. No, I am not! That's preposterous.

Anyway, walking down the stair case made of wood, seriously why haven't these wooden steps rotted and decomposed yet? I trek onwards through the tunnels again and after a few more minutes I can notice the increasing amount of cobwebs that stick to the surface of the walls until the whole corridor is covered in webs.

"Is that you Hogvir?! Bjorn?!"

Sighing, I light up my hand in flames and tore down the webs that is covering the only entry way into the next room, the room that has that one big ass frostbite spider dropping down. Yeah that one. It didn't accomplished anything noteworthy though, because I put a few bullets into its head and roasted it for some good measure. Okay, conserve the ammo idiot, you don't know how frequent you can make more bullets.

"You did it. You killed it. Now cut me down before anything else shows up."

Walking up to the dunmer, I burnt down the webs that was trapping the elf stuck. Once the webs finally melts away, the dunmer tried to run but I froze the ground causing him to trip and hit his head on the wall, either making him unconscious or dead, not my problem though. What I needed is the claw, which is in the satchel that the dunmer carries by his side, and I continue on my trek deeper into the Barrow. Going through another burial room, I finally reached the hall that contains the dead or rather undead, draugr they are called. Turns out, they are pretty stupid, not that I'm complaining, makes it easier to dodge and stab them in the head. Come to think of it, they are just the fantasy counter-part of modern day zombies, draugrs just have weapons and magic on them. Going down the hall way, being mindful to not step on the pressure plate that will definitely trigger a trap that will kill me one-hundred percent.

The next hall also didn't have much, only more draugrs for me to kill and get rid of. Breaking a few more axe traps with ice. Well more like it broke itself, I just froze the axe blade and shaft solid, the mechanical system destroy itself, snapping whatever made it works. Go through a tunnel, setting more draugrs on fire and down a cave pit where that one Breton falls to his death because of a frost troll, a frost troll that I ignored because I do not want to test my mettle against it yet.

After thirty minutes, I finally reached the sanctum where I continue to roast and freeze more draugrs before getting into the Hall of Stories. Admiring the timeless and grand feel of the hall, I inspect almost every wall, each one told a different stories. Mostly about the time when the dragons still ruled Tamriel, nothing biggie. Taking out the claw, I put it in the slot and dial the correct combination of the rings. Bear, moth, owl. After that, I twist the claw and lo and behold. The rings spin itself and with a loud rumble the whole stone door recede into the ground picking up a lot of dust.

Once the door had sinks down fully, I walk up the steps that leads to the final cavern where I will confirm if I'm going to be Dragonborn or not. Anticipation aside, the whole cavern is beautiful, awe inspiring really. The soothing sound of running water belong to a small stream, the pale grey walls that's decorated with the vibrant green of hanging moss. Small patches of grass litter on the ground with even bushes that managed to sprout up. A white pillar of light with a tint of orange shines through the cracks upon the ceiling. A colony of bats are flying around only add more into the beauty of the room.

Right there, at the far back of the room is the stone made, semicircular Word Wall that will be containing the word that will propel me into a road of world ending catastrophe.

Well, time to face the music.

Walking to the altar above, I cover the coffin in a thick block of ice, constricting the movement of the lid should the draugr overlord decides to be a dick and ambush me when I'm facing the wall. Closing to the wall, my heart seems to beat faster, my stomach twisting itself and my visions became blurry.

Why? Because the single most iconic word in the entire series is glowing.

_Ba-dum._

Blinding white shot into my eyes, the thundering sound of chanting echoes into my ears a weightlessness invade me. Foreign words and knowledge seeps into my brain, whispering and burning itself into my brain while also ripping a part of it, just to teach me something sacred, the knowledge of the voice.

The knowledge of Thu'um, the language of _Dragons_.

_Here lies the Guardian._

_Keeper of Dragonstone._

_And a __**force**__ of unending rage and darkness._

Once this played through my mind, I thought that it was over but suddenly my mind was hammered with more.

_**Force**__, a primordial part of reality. It encompass cause and effect, encompass the most basic event of reality to always achieve __**balance**__ of everything, of pull and __**push.**_

*_Gasps!*_

Clutching my stomach and head, I feel nauseating and a pounding headache between my temple. Bile rises from my stomach forcing through my throat and into my mouth. Unable to stop it, I open my lips and vomited onto the ground.

Barely catching my breath, I suddenly heard cracking sound behind me and immediately rushes away from the coffin and brought up my AR, aiming at where the Draugr Overlord will be coming out.

_CRACK!_

_WHUMP!_

The miniature iceberg I form burst into pieces as a coffin lid flies out and a Draugr Overlord steps out clad in full ancient nord armor with a horned helmet, in its hands is a sword and shield combo. Not wasting any time, I pull the trigger twice and two bullets came out of the barrel and rip into the draugr's head but instead of lay down unmoving, it kept walking to me menacingly.

ゴゴゴゴ

ゴゴゴゴ

Okay, Jojokes later, life and death decision making now!

Rapidly pulling my trigger with abandon, my bullets soars through the air and all clashes into the body with the body of the draugr but the fucker just keeps on walking near me! My bullets didn't do jack! Head, heart, lungs, liver even shot him in the nuts but the fucker just. Keep. WALKING! I swear! If the draugr starts talking like Dio, I'm going to lose my shit.

_Click!_

'Oh shit!'

Dropping the gun, knowing trying to reload now would be suicide and pull out my sword and dagger. Just in time to dodge a shield bash and parry the sword strike. Taking a few steps back to gain distance and began to circling it, I brought my sword forward and pointing towards the draugr while my dagger is positioned just above my head, defending against over-head stabs.

The draugr made a stab and I bat it away and went for a stab of my own which was block by the undead's returning stroke that I have to step away. Another stab but I deflected with my dagger and swing my sword upward but only managed to graze its helmet. The fight continue with the both of us exchanging sword blow. Any stab, any swing of it, I either blocked or parried and so does it. After a few minutes, I was getting tired and my slower swing and steps shows it but the draugr doesn't slow down, it's as fresh as it started. The draugr seems to notice this too as it came in once more with a shield strike, I blocked it with my sword but the draugr continues on with an overhead swing onto my head but stopped dead by my dagger. Taking the opportunity, I stab my sword towards the undead's right shoulder but suddenly pain flares up in my ribs as the draugr strike my ribs with its shield.

"Ahrgg!"

Staggering back, I brought up my sword but this time I was blown back.

"_Fuus…Ro'DAH!_"

Damn, forgot about that. Pain again flare at my back as I landed on the ground and my sword out of my grasp. Quickly conjuring a makeshift ice sword just in time to block another sword strike. Lashing out with my dagger, this time I heard steel met wood and wasted no time pull back my left arm, trying to pull the shield away from the undead. I managed to do it and throw away the shield pretty far but I got a headbutt for my trouble. Taking a few more steps back to gain more space but the most unlucky thing happened.

I tripped.

Seizing the opportunity, the draugr lunges towards me. I rolled away and lash out with my sword, I managed to hit its back but it didn't do any damage. However, the draugr stagger forward and I immediately drop my dagger and sword to tackle the draugr from behind. This time I wasted nothing and quickly got up, press its sword arm to the ground and hold its left arm from clawing my face. Immediately freezes both arms and I twist and bend back both with all my strength.

_Crack._

_Snap!_

The frozen hand snapped and shatters at the shoulder joint. Not letting up, I pull out its helmet and freeze its head solid. Bringing up its helmet high and with a scream I bring the helmet down hard shattering the draugr's head into pieces. Still not done, I pull the body up and incase it in a block of ice and conjure up an ice blade and swing it at the ice block with the draugr's body in it. After several swing fuel with anger, a sudden force boils within my body and with no control of my body I brought my blade down the middle before the boiling feeling within me could boil no more and rushes though my body and out from my throat.

"_Fus!...RO'DAH!_"

The sheer _force _behind my shout blow the ice block away and causes it to crash heavily into the wall, shattering the block itself and the corpse inside to pieces, littering the ground with chunks of ice.

Collapsing on the ground, the only sound in the cave remains is my labored breath as I'm fully exhausted physically and mentally. I sat there for gods now how long before I sobered up, stood up and prepare to walk back to the coffin. However, something else catches my eyes. Right where the arms I have snapped of is the ancient sword that the draugr held glowing a pale blue on its blade. Walking up to the sword and pick it up, I see that it's not a normal ancient nord sword. Judging by its shape it should be the greatsword instead but the weight is lighter than a greatsword, the length is just a bit shorter and the blade sleeker, the whole blade looks and feels like a longsword instead. Huh, oh yeah! The previous games had longswords but not Skyrim.

That aside, the blue glow must be the frost enchantment that this draugr always have. Deciding to fiddle with the blade to see the enchantment, I must have accidentally poured magicka into the sword as suddenly the whole blade length is incased in a layer of bladed ice like swords made from Stalhrim. However, the added layer of ice barely affected the weight. Sure it's still a bit heavy, seeing as how it's made from metal but it's not something to whine about.

Along the way to the altar, I picked up my elven blade and sheath it. After looting the coffin and the chest next to it, I got the Dragonstone, some more gold and gems, a silver ring with a pinkish red glow which I put on my index finger and finally a sheath for the ancient nord longsword. So deciding to ditch the elven sword and sold it when I'm at Riverwood.

Going up the steps and into the exit way, I pull the lever that opens the hidden door that leads to the mountain side where I will be trekking back to Embershard mine and camp inside for the night. Once out of the cave, I can see that the sun is beginning to set, judging by the position of the sun I have about two hours left before dark. Making my way through the mountain side with little to no trouble, I walk through the river with its surface frozen and towards Embershard mine.

When I arrived there, I checked the cart and see that it's still there and the gold filled ice block haven't melt yet. That's good.

Heading inside the mine, I grabbed the bread, cabbages, potatoes and any spices I could find inside and head to the fire pit. Pulling out the venison from this morning and dump it into the stew pot. Peeling the potatoes and chopping up the cabbages, I put them into the stew with some more salt that I found. Stirring it well, I set the pot on the fire and let it come to a roaring boil before adding half a bottle of ale and take it out from the fire, letting the stew to simmer. After a few more minutes of the stew simmering, I pull the pot completely from the fire and plated the stew with the bread that I reheated, the venison at this point is braised to the point it's pulled elk. Digging into the stew, the taste was heavenly after a day of hard work.

Finishing the stew and downing the remaining ale. After that I undress my vest and robes to check my ribs, no big purple bruise so that means no broken bones, no pain from touching the ribs cemented that. Though, there's still going to be a bruise but not that serious.

Putting my clothes on again, I throw in more firewood into the fire and lay down in the bed roll and drift off to sleep. The next day will be spending on travelling to Riverwood.


End file.
